I had good and bad in Cafe Nero the other day...

I staggered in with some bags of shopping, and...not wanting to be an ignorant old person taking up the queue with them I placed them by the table farthest away from me, so as not to be in anyone's way. And that was where I was also going to sit down, obviously.

So, I'm waiting patiently in the queue when in comes a group of young folks, and over they march to the very table where my shopping is, despite there being MANY other empty tables. One guy sits down...

So, over I go and say, politely, "Excuse me, but I was just about to sit there, this is my shopping which I put here so as not to trouble anyone you see, and I'm just waiting in the queue for my coffee before sitting down here, *next* to my shopping."

He stared at me....

"I don't care. I want to sit here."

Then, he turned away and smirked at his pals, who were staring at me...waiting to see my reaction.

"Oh! I'm SO sorry!! And there was I thinking Chivalry was DEAD and BURIED! What a fool I was to think that you might just be an ignorant bastard who'd give me a mouthful of rudeness, when it's perfectly plain to me now that you're really such a polite and thoughtful young man!"

He looked at me, slightly shocked...obviously not getting my drift at all.

So I tried again...

"Do you know, that in all of my 55 years I've never had the misfortune to meet anyone so bloody rude, so bloody uncaring, and so bloody arrogantly up themselves before!" I continued....

This time, the penny dropped...as did the jaws of most of the folks in the cafe....

At this point, he finally realised that the mad woman in front of him could possibly have launched all her shopping at him en masse..and he decided, finally, to move his arse. His pals decided they didn't even want to sit in the same cafe as this Ignorant Old Person, and so they left. ;0)

I went back to the queue, apologised to the young staff for losing them some customers, and explained that good manners are sooooo important and I don't take shite from anyone any longer. They laughed, grinned widely and gave me a free Gingerbread Father Christmas to calm me down! :0) They also told me to go and sit down and they'd bring my coffee over to me, bless 'em.

So there ya go.

The Good
The Bad
and...
The Ugly

....all in one cafe, on one day... :0)

(the latter being me in full "AAAAARRGGGH! Don't MESS with me!" flight.

Age has nothing to do with it. Personality is at the root of it. The caring young people couldn't have been more caring and they shone like diamonds next to that ignoramus...who, hopefully, will think twice before being so rude again.